Much of the development in our towns and villages is "mediocre, poorly-designed and ill-considered", a planning conference was told yesterday. Alison Healy reports.
Mr Mike Shanahan, architect and author of the design guidelines for Cork County Council, said the problem of "dead-end" housing built on the edges of towns and villages must be urgently tackled.
These estates were seen as almost the only means of expanding towns and villages, he said. He also questioned the reliance on the suburban house model, preferably detached, with its own front and back garden and cars parked to the front.
He called for pilot projects to look at the alternatives to the suburban model of development, and said local authorities should appoint town and county architects as well as establishing a system of pre-planning meetings between developers, designers and planners.
He was speaking at the "Future Towns and Villages" conference in Limerick, organised by the Royal Institute of Architects, the Irish Planning Institute and the Institution of Engineers.
Mr Philip Jones, vice-president of the Irish Planning Institute said lines and cul-de-sacs of "build it anywhere" suburban houses had sprung up everywhere.
The developments were designed "to suit what the estate agent thinks will sell, or what the builder has copied from somewhere else, be it Surrey, Orlando, Stratford-upon-Avon or Marbella, and frequently without any professional design input", he said.
"What we have had is generally formless urban sprawl, of poorly thought-out suburban accretions on to the edges of the established village or town structure, but paying no respect to that structure, nor to the character and sense of place that makes it an attractive place to live."
The conference also heard that the proposed western rail corridor between Sligo and Limerick would reduce the length of the current bus journey time between Sligo and Limerick by one hour, by taking cars off the road.
Mr Frank Dawson, Galway County Council's director of community and enterprise, said the rail service would relieve traffic congestion, make the region more attractive to investors and add value to homes and commercial property.